Thursday 8 November 2007

Xaphoon




XAPHOON ... a strange word for a beautiful sound.
It was hand made by
the instrument's creator, Brian Wittman, from bamboo cut from the rain forests of East Maui, and it arrived on my doormat yesterday accompanied by a description which calls it the new instrument for the musician, vagabond or professional and urges me to play it everywhere, to my brothers and sisters, in the dark, in places of magic, in stairwells and mountain-tops, alleyways and caves, to frighten the demons and summon angels and with it to greet those beings who cannot speak my language.
Here you can learn more about this unique instrument whose maker works in a remote self-built house in Maui supplied by rainwater and solar power.
And most of all - listen to this
Yiddish folksong played on the Xaphoon... which I will be able to do ... one day ...

2 comments:

Joel Stewart said...

Oh, I want one of these. I have a pocket chalameau (spelling?) which sounds very similar but only has a one octave range...

Did it take long to arrive?

Fætter Vims said...

Got mine today.. exciting!